5 that one of the purposes of searching the teacher questions is to promote the
awareness of teacher in using their questions during classroom interaction. By awareness as he states is meant more conscious use of language; noticing the
effects of interactional features on learning opportunity; understanding that teachers and learners jointly create learning opportunity; and realizing the
importance of using appropriate questions. Teachers of English language will particularly benefit from this study as the findings will be an eye-opener to them
on how to use question and their modifications appropriately to improve EFL classroom interaction. Finally, the findings of this study are expected to be
another alternative effort of improving students’ competence in learning English communicatively in the basis of classroom activities.
1.5 Definitions of Key Terms
In this section the researcher will elaborate the key terms that will be frequently used in this study. The elaboration is aimed at giving definition,
avoiding misunderstanding and limiting the use of the terms, and understanding the context in which the terms being used Cresswell, 1994.
1. Question is defined as a functional or speech act label, and refers to an utterance that seeks information or any statement intended to evoke a
response. 2. Display Question is the term used to refer to a question to which the
teacher already knows the answer Nunan, 1989b: 29. In asking display question, the teacher does not seek an answer to resolve some
6 doubts. Rather heshe wants the students to display or show some
previous knowledge that has been learned before. Such question like, “What is the capital of Indonesia?” belongs to this category.
3. Referential Question refers to a question to which the teacher does not already know the answer Brock, 1986; Chaudron, 1988; Nunan, 1991;
Gebhard, 1999. For instance: Have you done your homework? 4. Modification of Question refers to the change employed by teacher to
make the question understandable. Three additional types associated with the concept of negotiation or modification of meaning through
modification of question between interlocutors Chaudron, 1993:130- 131 or modified interaction, are comprehension check, clarification
request , and confirmation check.
5. Confirmation checks are moves by which one speaker seeks confirmation of the other’s preceding utterance through repetition, with
rising intonation, of what was perceived to be all or part of the preceding utterance.
6. Clarification requests are moves by which one speaker seeks assistance in understanding the other speaker’s preceding utterance through
questions, statements such as “I don’t understand,” or imperatives such as “Please repeat.”
7. Comprehension checks are moves by which one speaker attempts to determine whether the other speaker has understood a preceding
message Pica, 1987.
7 8. Second Language Acquisition SLA is the process through which
someone acquires one or more second or foreign language in addition to their native language Nunan, 1991. In this study the term of SLA
will be interchangeably used with Second Language Learning SLL.
9. Comprehensible Input is the part of the total input that the learners understand and which is hypothesized to be necessary for acquisition
to take place Ellis, 1997. 10. Input Hypothesis is the hypothesis advanced by Krashen to Explain
how learners subconsciously acquire language from input they comprehend Ellis, 1997.
11. Interaction Hypothesis is the name given to claim that the interactional modification resulting from the negotiation of meaning facilitate
acquisition Ellis, 1997. 12. The term classroom interaction in this study is defined as the
interaction between teacher and learners, and amongst the learners in the class room Tsui, 2001.
13. Output Hypothesis is the hypothesis which claims that the act of producing language speaking or writing constitutes, under certain
circumstances, part of the process of second language Swain, 2007
8 14. Student Language Production refers to the answers or comments given
by the students orally, in classroom during English teaching and learning process which is generated from the teacher questions.
1.6 The Structure of This Thesis
